Ancient Whale Fossil Uncovered in Tuscan Vineyard

Paleontologists have unearthed the 33-foot-long (10-meter-long) skeleton of an ancient whale under the vineyards of Castello Banfi, one of the producers of the renowned red wine Brunello di Montalcino.

"The skeleton is almost complete and well preserved. That's an uncommon find," said Michelangelo Bisconti, who is supervising the excavation at Banfi, an 11th-century castle near the town of Montalcino in Tuscany.

The find resembles a modern rorqual whale—the group of large baleen whales that includes the blue, humpback, and fin whales—said Bisconti, a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History of the Mediterranean in Livorno.